BQ Aurora smartphone review: a sheen of pure practicality

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Despite the fact that many interesting budget smartphones costing up to 10,000 rubles are available for sale, many solutions come with greatly reduced functionality, which scares off some users. Manufacturers understand this, so sometimes they still find the opportunity to introduce functions typical of more expensive devices into budget phones. This can be seen in the example of the BQ Aurora 6430L, which, while remaining affordable, received a high-resolution FullHD+ screen, a large number of sensors and an NFC module. Of course, these are not all the advantages of the device, but inevitably we had to save on some things, and this will be discussed in more detail in the main text of the review.

Characteristics

• Display: 6.4″, IPS matrix with a resolution of 2310×1080
• Chipset: MediaTek Helio P60, 4 Cortex-A73 cores at 2000 MHz and 4 Cortex-A53 cores at 2000 MHz
• Video chip: Mali-G72 MP3 (800 MHz)
• Process technology: 12 nm
• User Memory: 64GB eMMC 5.1
• RAM: 4 GB LPDDR3
• Operating system: Android 10
• Main camera: 16 + 2 + 0.3 + 0.3 MP
• Front camera: 20 MP
• Supports two nano SIM cards
• microSD memory card support
• Sensors: accelerometer, magnetometer, proximity, lighting, magnetometer, pedometer, gyroscope, fingerprint scanner
• Navigation: GPS, GLONASS, Beidou
• Wi-Fi: 5 (ac), 2.4 GHz + 5 GHz
• Bluetooth: version 4.2
• NFC
• FM radio
• Battery: 4000 mAh
• Charging connector: Type-C v2.0 with USB-OTG support
• Case materials: glossy plastic
• Dimensions: 157.4 x 76 x 8.9 mm
• Weight: 179 grams

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Sound, communication

The device is equipped with three wireless modules: Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), Bluetooth 4.2 and NFC.

• Support for 5 GHz Wi-Fi allows the BQ 6430L Aurora to both better receive the Internet signal and independently distribute it, acting as an access point.
• NFC will save you from the need to carry a bank card with you - you just need to link it to your phone once, and then you can make contactless payments without any problems.
• Bluetooth 4.2 keeps a stable connection with my smartwatch.

The sound is loud and pleasant. However, during games, the speaker can be easily closed with your finger due to its location. As for conversations on the phone, the interlocutor heard me perfectly, and I heard him. The proximity sensor reacts quickly and turns off the screen when you bring your ear to it, which means the risk of poking your cheek at everything is minimized.

The aGPS, GPS and GLONASS modules are responsible for navigation. There are no unpleasant surprises here either - the device can be used as a navigator in any applications that support maps.

Equipment

Inside the nice cardboard box in which the smartphone is packaged, you can also find a power supply, a USB to Type-C cable, a paper clip for removing cards and various documentation.

The power adapter, as indicated on the case, is capable of delivering a current of 2 amperes at a voltage of 5 volts. The cable also turned out to be of high quality - it is not prone to large voltage drops at the same current of 2 A.

Autonomy

The capacious 4000 mAh battery is no longer surprising. This capacity can be called the “gold standard” - if it’s higher, then you have a portable battery, lower – well, it will be noticeable.

The smartphone can last several days without recharging, provided that you do not load it heavily. Of course, if you play games and watch videos with the Internet turned on, you can get the device down in a day, but in terms of autonomy, I also didn’t have any questions.

Here are my modest phone usage statistics. At first it was turned off, and the charge dropped by about 10% in 3 days. Afterwards I started using it actively - playing games, taking photos, downloading applications. And yet the drawdowns turned out to be not so significant.

What else I want to note is the normal operation of the device in low temperature conditions. Even though the cold here is not as severe (when I took the photos, it was -5 outside) as in Yakutia, my fingers still froze, but the smartphone did not consume its charge faster, and there were no slowdowns in operation. Perhaps over time the battery will become worse, but I think this is a nice little thing.

“Aurora” charged from 50% to 100% in 1 hour and 5 minutes. I was pleased with this result, although it is not the most impressive. By the way, a 2A power supply with a USB Type-C output is responsible for charging (this is an extremely rare occurrence for state-owned Type-C employees).

Design

The front side of the device has narrow frames and a small cutout for the front camera in the corner.

The top frame is so small that the earpiece is hardly noticeable on it, and the proximity and light sensors had to be moved to the top end, but this did not negatively affect their operation. The only pity is that there is no LED event indicator.

Apart from the sensors, there is nothing on the top edge.

The bottom edge is the Type-C connector for charging and connecting headphones, the main speaker and microphone. As you might guess, they did not make a 3.5 mm jack.

On the left side there is a card tray, which can accommodate either two Nano SIM cards, or one SIM card and a microSD memory card. The 64 GB Samsung Evo Plus card could not be used - as I understand it, the fact is that it is relatively thick (about 0.76 mm), which is why the tray did not close completely, but with thinner cards (0.67 mm) there were no problems . Perhaps this is a feature of my copy.

The right side has a volume rocker and a power button, which can be pressed twice to open the camera.

The back of the smartphone, as well as the side edges, are made of black glossy plastic, on which fingerprints are clearly visible and small scratches quickly form. The device does not slip in your hands and hardly sways when you press the screen while lying on the table, so I would not say that using a case is necessary. Moreover, there are no complaints about the build quality. A fingerprint scanner is additionally installed on the unit with the rear cameras and flash, and with this arrangement, it is most convenient for the index finger of your left hand to rest on the scanner area, but even if you are left-handed, you will still sometimes get your finger on the camera modules. However, fingers rarely reach the main module, which is used most often.

The back cover is held in place only by latches and can be removed in less than a minute using a pick. This greatly simplifies, for example, replacing the battery if it becomes necessary over time.

Appearance

It is large, with narrow modern frames, and a metal casing. It actually looks quite typical. But we would recommend looking towards black. It looks much nicer there. The golden color of the picture is slightly spoiled by the front camera and sensors. The slots for them seem too big.

There is only glass in front. There is a small “chin” and a small “forehead” with the same sensors, front camera and speaker slot.

On the back there is a dual camera with a flash, protruding slightly from the body, a fingerprint scanner in the center, just below the company logo, at the very bottom the name of the device model. There are two stripes at the top and bottom, dividing the back cover into three parts, reminiscent of the HTC One M7.

On the left side we see only the SIM card slot.

On the right there is a ribbed power button and volume rockers.

At the bottom there is a headphone jack, a microphone, a connector for connecting to a charger or PC such as MicroUSB, as well as a slot for a speaker.

There is a completely empty edge at the top.

The screen is covered with protective glass with a 2.5D effect.

Display

As already mentioned at the beginning of the review, one of the main advantages of the smartphone is the high-resolution FullHD+ screen (2310×1080), and with a diagonal of 6.4 inches this gives a comfortable pixel density of 398 ppi. The display also has excellent responsiveness, probably due to the fact that multi-touch supports up to 10 touches, and you can also note comfortable viewing angles. The oleophobic coating also turned out to be of high quality - the screen does not immediately become stained with fingerprints and the surface can be quickly wiped off. Taking into account the rounded corners, the actual diagonal is approximately 6.22″.

The subpixel structure is standard for IPS, and this is the matrix installed in the hero of the review.

The maximum backlight brightness with a completely white screen was 409 cd/m², which allows you to see information on the screen in bright external lighting, taking into account good anti-glare properties (the switched off screen remains dark when reflecting a white background). But the minimum brightness is too high - 15.1 cd/m² is high enough for comfortable use of the display in complete darkness, and even the night mode does not completely eliminate the problem, which means you will have to use additional software to dim the backlight. The backlight is adjusted in large steps - already at 86 percent of the set brightness decreases to 200 cd/m², and at 80% to 150 cd/m².

The backlight uniformity is average - approximately 85.5%, without visible highlights.

The color gamut of the smartphone screen is almost equal to the gamut of the DCI-P3 space, which is good when the displayed content is made for a similar color space, but in other cases the user will see oversaturated colors. The color temperature is at 7600K, which is slightly higher than the optimal level of 6500K, and will give off cooler tones. The device does not provide settings for color temperature and color gamut.

The response time from black to white and back is 26 ms (13 ms on + 13 ms off), and when moving from 50% gray to 80% gray it is 38 ms (19 ms on + 19 ms off). ).

The rest of the screen information is provided below:

Review of budget smartphone BQ Aurora 6430L with NFC

BQ Aurora 6430L is another inexpensive smartphone from the famous Russian brand BQ. You can now find quite a few smartphones on the market with a price of around 10 thousand rubles, but all of them are greatly reduced in functionality. In this case, BQ offered the market a device with a large screen, a nice body, a good selfie camera and even an NFC module for only 11 thousand rubles. What else can it offer its owner?

Key Features of BQ Aurora (Model 6430L)

• SoC Mediatek Helio P60, 8 cores (4×Cortex-A73 @2.0 GHz + 4×Cortex-A53 @2.0 GHz)
• GPU Mali-G72 MP3
• Operating system Android 10
• IPS display 6.4″, 1080×2310, 19:9, 398 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 4 GB, internal memory 64 GB
• microSD support available
• Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
• GSM/HSDPA/LTE networks
• GPS/A-GPS, Glonass
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct
• Bluetooth 4.2
• NFC
• USB 2.0 Type-C, USB OTG
• There is no 3.5mm audio output for headphones
• Camera 16 MP + 2 MP (macro) + 0.3 MP + 0.3 MP, video [email protected] fps
• Front camera 20 MP
• Proximity and lighting sensors, magnetic field, accelerometer, gyroscope
• Fingerprint scanner (rear)
• Battery 4000 mAh
• Dimensions 158×76×8.9 mm
• Weight 179 g

Appearance and ease of use

BQ Aurora 6430L is not a very large smartphone with a good combination of size and weight. Despite the large screen diagonal, the device fits comfortably in the hand due to its thin frame. The body is made in a calm, discreet style, but due to the rectangular block with cameras it looks modern.

The body is entirely made of slippery and easily soiled glossy plastic. There is no metal side frame; the back smoothly merges into the sides. The side edges are narrowed and rounded.

The front panel has a well-designed front camera: the corner location looks much better than the central one. But at the back it turned out very strange: for some reason the fingerprint scanner was squeezed right into the block with cameras and flash.

Obviously, they wanted to maintain symmetry in this way, but it is clear that the finger will constantly touch the camera windows and dirty them. In general, the location of the fingerprint sensor is very unusual, although the place for the index finger is quite comfortable.

The slightly protruding block with cameras is enough to make the smartphone not very stable on the table. When working with the screen, the device sways a little.

The side buttons are installed in their place on one side. The keys are large, with a good distinct stroke, there are no complaints about them.

Combined card slot. You'll have to choose: either install two Nano-SIM cards, or sacrifice one in favor of a microSD memory card. Hot swapping of cards is supported.

A USB Type-C connector, a speaker and a conversational microphone are installed at the bottom end. But a 3.5 mm audio output for headphones was not installed in this budget smartphone at all. The device body does not have full protection from moisture and dust.

Screen

The BQ Aurora 6430L smartphone is equipped with a 6.4-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1080x2310, covered with flat glass. The physical dimensions of the screen are 69x147 mm, the aspect ratio is 19:9, and the pixel density is 398 ppi. The width of the frame around the screen is 4 mm on the sides, 4 mm on the top and 5 mm on the bottom. With such a diagonal, the frame is quite thin.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are better than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photograph in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - BQ Aurora, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the BQ Aurora is noticeably darker (brightness according to photographs is 107 versus 115 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the BQ Aurora screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating, which is better in efficiency than that of the Nexus 7. Therefore, fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.

When the white field was displayed in full screen and with manual brightness control, its maximum value was 415 cd/m². The maximum brightness is quite high, and, given the excellent anti-glare properties, something on the screen can be seen even on a sunny day outdoors. The minimum brightness value is 16 cd/m². In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located on the upper end to the right of center). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider: with it the user can try to set the desired brightness level in the current conditions. If you do not interfere, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 16 cd/m² (suitable), in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 550 lux) it sets it to 110 cd/m² (normal), and conditionally in direct sunlight the brightness reaches 415 cd/m² (maximum, as needed). For the experiment, we slightly increased the brightness in complete darkness and for the three conditions indicated above we obtained 25, 110 and 415 cd/m². This option is suitable for those who would like higher brightness in complete darkness. It turns out that the auto-brightness function works more or less adequately and allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker.

This smartphone uses an IPS matrix. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large viewing deviations from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of the BQ Aurora and Nexus 7, while the screen brightness is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera is forced to switch to 6500 K.

There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.

And a test picture:

The colors on the BQ Aurora screen are highly saturated, and the color balance varies between screens. Let us remind you that the photograph cannot serve as a reliable source of information about the quality of color rendering and is provided only for conditional visual illustration. The reason is that the spectral sensitivity of the camera sensor does not exactly match this characteristic of human vision.

Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens, but on the BQ Aurora the contrast decreased to a greater extent due to the greater brightening of blacks.

And a white field:

The brightness at an angle of the screens has decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but the BQ Aurora's brightness at this angle is still slightly higher. When deviated diagonally, the black field is brightened greatly, but remains conditionally neutral gray (as seen with the eyes). The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is average:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1060:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 20 ms (10 ms on + 10 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 32 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal a blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.21, which is close to the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates little from the power-law dependence:

We did not detect the presence of dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image, which is very good.

The color gamut is wider than sRGB and close to DCI:

Let's look at the spectra:

The spectra of the components are quite good, which determines the wide color gamut. For a consumer device, a wide color gamut is a disadvantage because it results in unnaturally saturated colors in images—drawings, photographs, and movies—that are oriented to the sRGB space (which is the vast majority of them). This is especially noticeable on recognizable shades, such as skin tones. The result is shown in the photographs above.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is a compromise, since the color temperature is higher than the standard 6500 K. However, the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) on the gray scale is below 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

There is a setting that allows you to reduce the intensity of the blue component.

In principle, bright light can lead to disruption of the circadian rhythm, but everything can be solved by reducing the brightness to a low, but still comfortable level, and there is absolutely no point in distorting the color balance by reducing the contribution of blue. Unfortunately, this setting cannot be used to correct color balance, since even at the minimum correction level, the color temperature is too low (to about 4700 K).

Let's summarize: the screen has a fairly high maximum brightness (415 cd/m²) and has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device can somehow be used outdoors even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level (up to 16 cd/m²). It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages of the screen include the absence of air gaps in the layers of the screen and flickering, as well as high contrast (1060:1). The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane and too saturated colors. Considering the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the screen quality can be considered good.

Camera

There are four camera modules installed on the back of the smartphone, but only one (16 megapixels) takes good pictures. You can also use the camera for macro photography, but with a resolution of 2 megapixels you can’t expect high-quality pictures from it. The remaining two auxiliary cameras have a resolution of 0.3 megapixels. So, when examining the smartphone externally, you can be flattered by the 4 camera eyes, but in reality there is no telephoto lens, no wide-angle optics, no stabilizer, no optical zoom.

For its budget level, the main module shoots well. It is clear that the pictures have been processed: contrast and sharpness have been added, but the picture is not whitish, the colors are reproduced correctly, and there are no blockages in the shadows. It’s also nice that even in winter photographs with a predominance of white, the white balance does not tend to turn blue. In general, the capabilities of the BQ Aurora 6430L camera should be sufficient for social networks.

The control interface is simple and logical, since the number of settings and additional modes is minimal. There's not even an option to turn on HDR. There is only a set of color filters, a separate b/w filter, and portrait mode. Shooting in RAW is not standard.

The module for macro photography is very simple, with a resolution of 2 megapixels, so there is no need to talk about any quality here: the detail is low. However, the notorious “macromodules”, for some unknown reason, which are massively installed in almost all smartphones, do not perform better even in devices costing 30 thousand rubles.

The video camera can shoot in a maximum resolution of 1920×1080 at 30 fps. The picture is loose, with low detail and without stabilization.

• Video No. 1 (1920× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)

The selfie camera has a 20-megapixel sensor and produces good image quality for its level. On a smartphone screen, a contrasting and bright picture looks decent, and that’s quite enough.

Telephone and communications

The smartphone supports 4G LTE Cat.7 networks with a maximum theoretical download speed of up to 300 Mbit/s. Judging by the information about supported LTE frequencies, all the most common bands in Russia are available.

• LTE band: FDD B1 (2100 MHz), B3 (1800 MHz), B7 (2600 MHz), B8 (900 MHz), B19 (850 MHz), B20 (800 MHz), TDD B38 (2600 MHz), B41 (2500 MHz)

There are also Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.2 wireless adapters, and there is even an NFC module with the possibility of contactless payment, which is good news.

The navigation module works with GPS (with A-GPS), with the domestic Glonass and the Chinese Beidou, but without the European Galileo. The first satellites are detected quickly even during a cold start, and the positioning accuracy does not cause any complaints.

The voice of the interlocutor in the speaker is clear and intelligible, the volume is sufficient. The dialer interface is standard; the ability to automatically record telephone conversations from the line is not provided. Medium intensity vibration alert.

Software and multimedia

The software platform uses Android OS version 10 with the ability to update over the air. The Android interface is absolutely clean, but there is a large, familiar mass of free pre-installed applications - in this case, most of them are Mail.ru. Global dark theme and face unlock are present. The pre-installed Google Play store and Google services are also in place.

Of course, there are no stereo speakers in the device. The speaker produces loud, but not very clear sound. The sound quality in the headphones is also average. In addition, the smartphone does not have a 3.5 mm audio output. There is also no installed audio player, and music is played by default through YT Music without any settings. This is the most inconvenient player that does not allow you to play your own downloaded melodies normally - you can only start playing one at a time through the file manager. So you simply cannot do without downloading and installing a third-party audio player.

Performance

MediaTek Helio P60 is an eight-core mobile SoC, which is manufactured according to the 12-nanometer process technology. The platform was introduced in early 2022. Contains a processor part divided into 2 clusters (4 ARM Cortex-A73 cores and 4 more ARM Cortex-A53 cores) with a maximum frequency of up to 2 GHz. GPU – Mali-G72 (MP3).

The RAM is 4 GB, the storage capacity is 64 GB (of which about 51 GB is available). You can install a memory card in your smartphone; connecting external devices to the USB Type-C port in USB OTG mode is also supported.

The platform is not very powerful compared to flagship ones; it only scores about 150K points in the AnTuTu test, but this is a good solution for a budget smartphone. The hardware power is even enough to play popular games at medium graphics settings - for example, Call of Duty Mobile.

Testing in comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in 3DMark and GFXBenchmark gaming tests:

Testing in browser cross-platform tests:

AndroBench memory speed test results:

Load testing to detect CPU throttling:

Heat

Below is a thermal image of the rear surface obtained after 15 minutes of fighting with a gorilla in the game Injustice 2 (this test is also used to determine autonomy in 3D games):

Heating is greater at the top of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat camera, the maximum heating was 47 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), this is very strong heating for this test in comparison with other modern smartphones.

Playing video

This device apparently does not support DisplayPort Alt Mode for USB Type-C - outputting image and sound to an external device when connected to a USB port (usbview.exe program report). Therefore, we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In the tests we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

Note: If both columns Uniformity and Skips have green ratings, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and skipping of frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect comfort viewing. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.

According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since in most cases frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p), the image of the video file itself is displayed one-to-one pixel by pixel, exactly at the height of the screen (in landscape orientation) and in true Full HD resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the actual brightness range for the given video file. Note that this smartphone does not support hardware decoding of H.265 files with a color depth of 10 bits per color and HDR files.

Battery life

The smartphone has a built-in battery with almost the minimum capacity for today. Unfortunately, the MediaTek platform quite typically demonstrates irrepressible power consumption; the body of the device gets very hot under load, so the energy consumption is quite obvious. In real life, however, the device behaves in the same way as most modern smartphones: you cannot do without daily overnight charging.

Testing has traditionally been carried out at the usual level of power consumption without using power saving functions, although the device has them. Test conditions: the minimum comfortable brightness level was set (approximately 100 cd/m²). Tests: continuous reading in the Moon+ Reader program (with a standard, light theme); continuous viewing of video in HD quality (720p) via your home Wi-Fi network; Injustice 2 game with automatic graphics settings.

Traditionally, we will make a reservation that these are the maximum possible figures obtained under ideal conditions and without installed SIM cards. Any changes in the operating scenario will most likely lead to worse results.

From the included mains adapter or any other adapter, the smartphone charges in 2.5 hours, consuming 10 W (5 V, 2 A); fast charging is not supported. Wireless charging is also not supported.

Bottom line

In official Russian retail, the BQ Aurora 6430L can be purchased for only 11 thousand rubles. At this price, a device with a large screen with high (normal) resolution, a decent 20-megapixel selfie camera, a modern appearance and, of course, support for a contactless payment option is a rather interesting offer. Compromises at this price are completely inevitable, and the potential buyer has to choose. Let's say the latest budget phone we tested, Realme C20, costs a couple of thousand less, but it has a weaker hardware platform, less memory, a lower-resolution screen, and no fingerprint scanner. But you can install 3 cards in it, there is a mini-jack for headphones, a larger battery and much better battery life. All you have to do is choose according to the parameters that are most important to you, since the choice in this segment is huge.

Hardware, operating system and software

The manufacturer decided to use the MediaTek Helio P60 MT6771 as the chipset, which at the time of the announcement, which was in 2022, was considered a relatively powerful solution. Time passes, and now this single-chip system scores about 150,000 points in the Antutu test, which is not much, but quite acceptable for a budget smartphone. Synthetic tests indicate that there is significant throttling, but in real-world use cases the performance degradation is not too noticeable.

Some applications and games can be transferred to a memory card. This way, you can free up a large amount of built-in user memory. The Android 10 operating system initially comes pre-installed with a set of Russian software, which should soon be present in one way or another in all devices officially sold in Russia. The firmware contains the following applications: Dr.Web, State Services, Mir Pay, VK, ICQ New, Wink, Look Mail, voice assistant Marusya, Atom Browser, Cloud Mail.ru and Give Life. The user is allowed to delete everything except software from mail.ru. The issue with firmware updates remains open - no new software versions have been released while using the smartphone.

No unique functions were noticed in the firmware. I’ll just highlight that there is gesture control, or you can swap the positions of the on-screen buttons. The upper part of the screen can be hidden in black so that the front camera is almost invisible and does not in any way affect the display of various content.

The set of sensors is very rich - there is even a magnetometer and a gyroscope, and the latter listed is hardware (not software) and is excellent for viewing 360-degree videos.

Unlock methods

Finger unlocking does not work as quickly as possible, but it is very accurate. It takes approximately 0.8-0.9 seconds to fully unlock the device. The scanner also works as an additional button for controlling the camera and calls, or it can serve as an analogue of the on-screen Back button.

Identification of the owner using a face was also pleasing with its accuracy in any lighting, and even in complete darkness the function of automatically increasing the brightness and filling the screen with white helps out. It takes from 1 to 1.1 seconds to unlock in good lighting, but the final time depends on too many factors.

Connection

In terms of communication, we can say that there are no compromises - the hero of the review has both dual-band Wi-Fi (ac) and NFC with support for the Google Pay service, and the only inconvenient thing is that there is no quick switch in the top curtain for this popular in Russia module. Both SIM cards are capable of working in 4G networks, and the list of supported LTE bands looks like this: band 1, 3, 7, 8, 19, 20, 38, 41.

Call recording is possible by pressing the dedicated on-screen button during telephone conversations. The volume of the speakers turned out to be comfortable for most cases, although the sound of the main speaker is not able to replace portable speakers. But the vibration cannot be called powerful, which is usual for modern smartphones. When connecting wireless headphones and speakers to a smartphone, AAC and SBC codecs are available, but not AptX.

Cameras

The main module (16 MP, f/2.0, viewing angle 65.6°, autofocus, flash) is quite suitable for use in sufficient lighting, and no obvious defects were noticed when taking pictures. There is no night mode - in poor lighting it will be difficult to get decent quality pictures. HDR and automatic scene recognition are missing - in general, the interface of the standard camera application does not offer various features.

Macro mode (2 MP, f/2.6), which is placed in a separate menu and for which a separate module is used, allows you to capture something from a very close distance, no more than 4-5 cm.

Another module is a depth sensor, and if you cover it with your finger, then in portrait mode the background will be blurred in any case. The quality of the blur can be assessed in the examples below - even in hands shaking from the cold, the object in the foreground is always successfully separated, but if you look closely, the blur contours are not ideal, which can be forgiven for a budget solution. The fourth module, according to information from BQ, is of an auxiliary nature, and I was not able to find out what it affects.

The video is recorded in Full HD resolution with 30 frames per second, and the only possibility I can mention when shooting video is automatic focusing on objects.

The front camera (20 MP, f/2.0, 46.8° viewing angle, without autofocus) boasts an unexpectedly high resolution of images, but video is recorded only in HD resolution (1280×720), which in most cases will also be sufficient for video communication. The screen can't be used as a flash, so there's no point in taking selfies in the dark.

Navigation

Within the city, the quality of navigation does not raise any questions - GPS tracks are quite smooth, without a hint of satellite loss. GPS, GLONASS and BEIDOU satellites are supported, and the built-in magnetometer will help you quickly determine the direction of movement. True, the firmware does not provide a compass application, but this sensor needs to be calibrated periodically, so it’s worth downloading a third-party solution, for example, from Google Play.

Operating and charging time

In terms of operating time, the device shows results that I would call average, or in some cases slightly below average, so with moderate use, the BQ Aurora 6430L will have to be charged either every day or once every two days. However, some flagships last just as long, but still remain popular among users. Almost all autonomy tests were carried out with a screen brightness of 150 cd/m², Wi-Fi turned on and one working SIM card.

The included power adapter can charge a smartphone in 2 hours 40 minutes (27% in 30 minutes and 58% in an hour). The maximum charging power reaches 10.7 W (5.34 V, 2 A), and there is no support for wireless charging. Judging by the readings of the USB tester, the battery capacity approximately corresponds to the declared one, which is 4000 mAh.

Bee Q Aurora – price, reviews, alternatives from other manufacturers

For the BQ-6000L Aurora they are asking a considerable amount. On the official website you can buy a smartphone for 15,000 rubles – that’s serious money. With a little saving, you can buy an iPhone SE, buy the flagship Mi6 from Xiaomi, or buy a frameless smartphone from Huawei. Agree, there are many competitors. And, to be honest, it’s scary to pay that kind of money for BQ-Mobile, because they just started doing something decent and moving away from consumer goods. The main thing is that in half a year you and I will not read reviews online about “dead” frameless cameras with four cameras. We will leave our review of the BQ-6000L Aurora in the form of its main pros and cons.

BQ-6000L Aurora advantages:

• Metal body
• 4GB RAM type LPDDR4X
• Four cameras
• 4,000 mAh battery

BQ-6000L Aurora disadvantages:

• Boring design
• Large dimensions
• High price
• No NFC

BQ-6000L Aurora alternatives from other manufacturers:

(for comparison we took smartphones with a frameless design and four cameras and +/- the same price category)

• Vernee X – 15,000 rubles – a new product from the Chinese company Vernee, which is an updated version of the BQ-6000L Aurora. And that's why. This six-inch smartphone has a resolution of 2160x1080 - the picture will be better. The battery is more powerful – 6,100 mAh. There is more RAM and user memory – 6GB/128GB. With cameras, however, things are a little worse: the main one is 16MP+5MP, the front one is 13MP+5MP. A worthy competitor, right?
• Doogee MIX 2 -14,000 rubles - this, one might say, is the twin of the hero of our review, but with its own goodies. Inside this smartphone there is the same processor as on the BQ-6000L Aurora, but there is more RAM - 6 GB. The design is more frameless, and the display has a higher quality resolution (6 inches 2160x1080). The phone's cameras take photographs at a decent level: the main one is 16 MP + 13 MP, the front one is 8 MP + 8 MP. The battery life is ok – 4000 mAh. An excellent alternative to the BQ-6000L Aurora.
• Huawei Nova 2i – 16,500 rubles – an example of a smartphone with four cameras and a frameless design from a top manufacturer. Huawei Nova 2i is a strong mid-ranger that will be able to please you with stable system operation, constant updates and service support, which other participants in the review and comparison will not be able to do. The Huawei Nova 2i has a large screen – IPS, 5.9″, 2160×1080, 407 ppi. The body is metal. The Kirin 659 processor, which scores 63,00 points in Antutu, is responsible for the speed of operation. Of course, the situation with cameras is more depressing, but the quality of the software outperforms more modest sensors: the main one is 16MP+2MP, the front one is 13MP+2MP. Of course, it’s up to you to choose, but it’s better to trust proven brands.

Games and more

For obvious reasons, a smartphone cannot be called a full-fledged gaming solution, but it turns out to be relatively comfortable to play PUBG even on high graphics settings or many other heavy games, if you do not try to set the maximum settings. For detailed testing of games and plotting FPS graphs, the Gamebench application was used.

There is no need to talk about the strong heating of the smartphone case, at least at room temperature of 21.5°C.

FM radio works only with connected headphones and has the functions of recording broadcasts, as well as outputting sound to the speaker. No RDS support found.

Results

For the money, which is approximately 9,900 rubles at the time of writing the review, the BQ Aurora 6430L seems to be an interesting solution for those who need an inexpensive mobile device with a high-resolution screen. Although the display has its own characteristics, it also has excellent responsiveness and a high-quality oleophobic coating. Numerous sensors work perfectly, and the unlocking methods also turned out to be of high quality. Surprisingly, you can even play some heavy games relatively comfortably on a smartphone. The presence of an NFC module, a modern Type-C connector and very thin frames can also be safely added to the list of advantages, as well as a comfortable amount of memory with the ability to transfer software to a microSD card.

The lack of an LED indicator and a separate tray for SIM cards can be considered as full-fledged disadvantages, and not everyone will like the glossy body and the absence of a 3.5 mm jack.

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Benchmarks

We also ran BQ Aurora through GeekBench and AnTuTu benchmarks. You can see the results below.